Did it crack you up? Did you see a little bit of yourself in it? I know I did. I can totally identify with letting your kids eat raw cookie dough and lick the cake batter off the beaters (I do advise turning the mixer off, first, though).
There are a lot of things, in fact, that I'm just not very strict about. Bedtime, for example. I'm pretty flexible on that one. I, once, had a friend who put her children to bed by 7:30 every night and then complained when they were up by 5:00 in the morning. I suggested she push their bedtimes back by an hour or so, but she said she liked having the evening to spend with her husband without dealing with the kids. That's just not how we roll around here.
Before my son was born, I had visions of being the "Perfect Mom" that you read about in all of the parenting magazines. You know the one, she only feeds her kids perfectly balanced, meals (because Perfect Mom's kids love vegetables), her laundry is always done, her house is always clean and she never forgets to sign the kid's homework or send in their book order forms. Perfect Mom is never throwing a load of laundry in the washer at midnight because she procrastinated all day.
But then I read an article written by a woman whose child had died in an accident. He was young, 10 or 11, I think. She said, looking back, she was so glad for all the times she let him stay up late or eat cookies ten minutes before dinner. All those little moments of "breaking the rules" were her best memories. The times she said "no" didn't stand out, but the times she said "yes" did. She never wished she had spent more time doing laundry or that her bathroom tile grout had been cleaner. In the big picture, those weren't the things that mattered.
I read that article more than seventeen years ago and it still sticks with me. I think of it when my daughter is still drawing pictures 20 minutes past her bedtime and when my son is munching on potato chips while I'm preparing dinner. On days like today, when the laundry is less than half done, but my daughter and I are watching videos on the computer, I think of it. When I have a mile long to-do list, but drop everything to sit and chat with my son, it's with me.
All the "June Cleaver" type moms....what will their happiest memories be when their kids are grown? The joy of clean socks?
Willoughby
